Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens Trade Up Again To Draft Paupanekis 69th Overall
The Montreal Canadiens have selected prospect Hayden Paupanekis with the 69th overall pick, in the third round of the NHL Entry Draft.
Paupanekis, a 6’5″ forward, spent last year playing for Kelowna and Spokane in the WHL, scoring 22 goals and 21 assists in 73 games.
The Habs traded two picks to the Boston Bruins to ensure they could select Paupanekis, once again turning quantity into quality. The official trade was the 69th overall pick for the 79th and 108th overall picks.
welcome to Montreal, Hayden Paupanekis! pic.twitter.com/EFHDzs0a7v
— carina (@goalcauf) June 28, 2025
According to draft experts, Paupanekis projects as a solid-two way player with legitimate NHL ambitions. His physicality, in particular, stands out whenever he’s on the ice.
Montreal Canadiens Draft Info
The Montreal Canadiens made their usual splash at the draft weekend, trading both of their first round picks (16th and 17th overall) as well as Emil Heineman to the New York Islanders for top-pairing defenceman Noah Dobson. Despite moving a pair of picks, the Canadiens still held 10 draft picks heading into Day 2 of the NHL Entry Draft.
Dobson, 25, immediately signed an eight-year contract extension with the Canadiens, carrying an annual average value (AAV) of $9.5 million.
There’s no doubt about it, the Canadiens improved their lineup significantly with the Dobson trade, though it may lead to further trades down the road as the salary-cap situation comes into play. Defenceman Mike Matheson, in particular, may end up being moved to ensure more financial manoeuvrability, and there’s a very healthy chance the team will try to trade Carey Price’s contract should they find an organization attempting to reach the cap floor.
This is the fourth consecutive draft weekend that featured a significant trade for the Canadiens, a situation that’s quickly becoming general manager Kent Hughes’ calling card.
He traded a first-round pick in 2022 to ensure he could swing a deal which included centre Kirby Dach. It was followed by a trade the next year that saw Alex Newhook join the Habs in exchange for a late first-round pick and an early second-round pick.
Last season, Hughes packaged a first-round pick as well as a second-round pick in a trade that saw the Canadiens move up the first-round draft order, leading to the selection of Michael Hage, a very exciting prospect who enjoyed a fantastic season in the NCAA with the Michigan Wolverines.
Despite moving a bevy of draft picks, the Canadiens’ prospect pool is still considered to be among the top pipelines in the NHL, which speaks to Montreal’s thorough, yet encouraging game plan to navigate the final stages of the rebuild.
A very wise move by Hughes in bringing Dobsen in. This instantly gives the Habs solid group of Defenseman for many years going forward.
It also allows the Habs, to possibly move Mailoux or Reinbecher for another high quality second line Center. That is a need that still needs to be adressed.
Well done Hughes and Gorton!
It’s DobsOn and you’re not going to get a “high quality second line Center” for a prospect.
Too many teams are looking for 2C so we’ll see what Hughes will do but he’s not going to mortgage the future for one
Hayden Paupanekis is an Indigenous Cree hockey player. Although his stats are modest I think he has a good chance to become an NHL player in a few years.
Let’s have some fun and put Paupanekis on a line with Tyler Thorpe and Florian Xhekaj. And with Arber and Mailloux on the back end, I think teams would be hesitant to take liberties with our small guys.